Known gaming devices, such as slot machines, tend to accumulate large amounts of money (either coins or currency), which from time to time is stolen. For quite some time, makers of gaming devices have searched for effective, cost efficient means for guarding against theft.
One starting point in protecting a gaming machine is the stand or housing in which the machine is placed. Machine housings or stands for slot machines are known in a variety of forms. The German patent publications DE-OS 38 02 600 and DE-OS 39 02 084 both describe a fixture for the accommodation of several slot machines in one stand. Furthermore, the publication DE-PS 38 34 019 describes a safe for change which is integrated in a slot machine stand. Other publications describe the combination of slot machines for money and a safe for the money intake in a machine stand (DE-OS 39 02 097).
In all cases, however, the known combinations of slot machines and safes serve only to safekeep the money inserted into the slot machines. With this, a compromise solution was created which related to complicated, yet still inadequate safety measures against unauthorized withdrawals of money. With the above-mentioned known solutions, however, the only money deposited in the safe is the money which is not required in the coin stacking devices for the payment of winnings or for the repayment of stakes.
With separate slot machines, this money has hitherto been collected and kept in a cash box within the machine. The outcome of this was that depending on how full the cash box was, the loss from unauthorized access to the slot machine was frequently considerable. This problem was partially remediated by placing a safe, along with other safety devices in the interior of the slot machine, as a further step towards the cutting of losses.